DIY fiber optics with LED/phototransistor pair, super glue, and PMM arts n craft fiber

[Xeno]

The GPT says this may work... I'm looking for basic hacker tips, and/or better ideas to get fiber signals out of a noisy phased array.

--Hobby mode on--

PMM arts and crafts fiber optics (polymethylmethacrylate; (R)Lucite, etc.) are cheap like me.

A design goal is to simply get a light intensity to a threshold comparator for adjustable hi/low readings. The fiber length is short, for sure under 100 feet.

Why wouldn't this work ...

Small holes drilled into large format LED / phototransistors where PMM crafts fiber optic strands are glued into the hole with super glue. Some heat shrink tubing and Bob's your uncle!

For a hobby project, the cost is negligible. I'll need a couple dozen, assemblies. It is just a lab unit and I'd like to keep the cost low on this unfunded prototype.

Has anyone tried this? Any other cheap ideas?

Thanks,
Don

 

[Delta Prime]

My frugal Uncle Bob is in conflict.

For a hobby project, the cost is negligible

Define negligible please...

Thanks,
Don

And you know I don't like being called Don, silly uncle.

 

[Xeno]

Uncle Don, my name is Don. That was called a complementary close.

And here's the definition of neglible:

So small or unimportant as to be not worth considering; insignificant.
"Sound could at last be recorded with incredible ease and at negligible cost."

So, are you wanting me to ask how little you pay for fiber optics? Do I need to say please?

Please. I'll even do some tricks.

Thank you for the banter. Now, about any helpful tips... carry on, Unc!

Also an Uncle Don,
Don
Guardian of the Bucket List
Defender of the Brain Child
and newbie woodworker

The Complimentary Close. The complimentary close is a short and polite remark that ends your letter. The close begins at the same justification as your date and one line after the last body paragraph.

My frugal Uncle Bob is in conflict.

Define negligible please...

And you know I don't like being called Don, silly uncle.

Let's see... frugal in the sense that my free-software-labor (which is compulsively satisfying) plus an LED and photodiode, cheap Fiber, some glue and heat shrink add up to a lot less than a hardware FPGA with one exception... the FPGA configuration script is yet another learning curve. So, the ramping up for new things is slow these days... like... forgot why I needed it when completed.... where my pre-new-millenial (no less than) Vintage VB6 coding is zero-learning curve and feels like the good ol' days when anxiety in the industry rose suicide rates. Back before the wars. Actually, my muscle memory knows how to code. It's a stitch. More like RSI memory!

However! Were you to supply free tutorial support for me on a quick low-end FPGA, I'd be happy to name you as chief technical something in my retirement castle. I.e... less learning curve pain to lean alone.

Do you know ESP32 coding? I need to have the VB6 prototype code rendered into some fast code on an ESP or equivalent. It's all new to me.

Oh, and the FPsoftGA will be configured to build a running category engine for a sort of histogram of the oscillator jitters, were you wonderin.

The other Unc,
Don

 

[Delta Prime]

Excellent...next time start with that!

Do you know ESP32 coding?

Yes.

Oh, and the FPsoftGA will be configured to build a running category engine for a sort of histogram of the oscillator jitters, were you wonderin

Yes at the age of 16! I was wondering that.

So, are you wanting me to ask how little you pay for fiber optics? Do I need to say please?

No sir you do not need to say please.. the fiber optics I purchase or not cheap.

Please. I'll even do some tricks

Jumping through my hoops is trick enough.. thank you for your response someone will be with you shortly. Good day to you sir.

 

[danadak]

ESP32 coding, try this for a fast method of basic coding.

Tuniot : http://easycoding.tn/esp32/demos/code/



The above a basic Network template example. But use as a basic part w/o the network
stuff also easy.

Tuniot takes your basic block configuration and generates C/C++ code to program with
Arduino programmer.

This happens to be a Network related problem I needed to solve, but you get the general
idea of its capability. Note Tuniot also supports ESP8266, which is cheaper, but less
capable, than the ESP32.

Verizon Remote Hotspot Controller

Had a problem with a remote site, property management. Basically wanted to run Network on site with a Cell based solution. Key issues : 1) Hotspot, if it lost power and ran batteries completely down would not boot all the way into Cell tower connection. It would charge on power return (its...

www.edaboard.com

Regards, Dana.

 

[Harald Kapp]

I need to have the VB6 prototype code rendered into some fast code on an ESP or equivalent.

An ESP, as I dare say most microcontrollers, is programmed in C/C++. That's a far way from VB6. You'll have to re-write the whole code.Available memory may be an issue, depending on the size of your program.

Small holes drilled into large format LED / phototransistors where PMM crafts fiber optic strands are glued into the hole with super glue. Some heat shrink tubing and Bob's your uncle!

This part will work well. Lot of work, depending on the number of phototransistors, but doable. If you can get hold of metal can transistors (TO-3) you can use them as phototransistors by removing the top of the can, then insert the optical fibe and seal with glue.

I'll need a couple dozen, assemblies.

How many sensors/phototransistors per assembly? The part where the real work becomes apparent is the number of comparators and adjusting them to the same sensitiviy. Depending on the accuracy you require.
Alternatively you could use a single comparator and multiplex the output signals from the phototransistor array into the input of the comparator. Thus all sensors will be evaluated with the exact same threshold. The tradeoff is that you evaluate the sensor signals serially, one after the other, not simultaneously. Whether this is acceptable depends on your application.

Unfortunatlely you leave us in the dark concerning a lot of parameters of your project.